Tuesday, November 14, 2017

College Tourney Update: Cougars Post First Round Upset; Baylor & Santa Clara Advance

The opening weekend of the major collegiate women's tournaments saw some great results and performances from area teams and players ranging from the Washington State and Western Washington women advancing to a near-stunner from Eastern Washington at USC.

Meanwhile, the NWAC crowned its champions and the NAIA tournaments were set for later this month.

THE BRACKETS

NCAA DI Women Bracket [+]
NCAA DI Men Bracket [+]
NCAA DII Women Bracket [+]
NCAA DIII Women Bracket [+]
NCAA DII Men Bracket [+]
NCAA DIII Men Bracket [+]
NAIA Women Bracket [+]
NAIA Men Bracket [+]

DIVISION I 

Games of Note (seed) / [rank]:

11/10 - Rice [RV] 2-3 Baylor [23] 
Camryn Wendlandt (Coeur d'Alene, ID) started and her Bears, who earned their way into the tournament with a great Big XII tourney run, advanced to the second round and a match-up against defending champion USC, which is coming off a narrow win against Eastern Washington (see below).


11/11 - Washington State 1-0 (2) Central Florida [8] 
After an own goal off a headed clearance put the Cougars on the board five minutes into the match, the defense did well to keep half of the hosts shots off target as they were outshot 19-5. Ella Dederick was the star with six saves, but her teammates were just as critical with three goalline stops as well. Grace Hancock (Boise, ID) made one of those stops, her fifth of the year. They will now face Tennessee.


11/11 - Eastern Washington 1-2 OT (3) Southern California  
The Eagles gave the Trojans quite the test with an early shot from Aimie Inthoulay rebounding to Chloe Williams (Spokane, WA) off the keeper's save. She put the second chance opportunity away for her 12th goal of the year. Inthoulay had another chance come close in the 26th, but it was punched away just as it was going to hit the crossbar. Emily Busselman (Richland, WA / CC Spokane) made three saves in the first half to keep the Eagles in front going into the second half, but the hosts pulled even in the 51st. Outshot 14-6 again in the second half, Busselman made another four saves to keep the match even and the Eagles took the three seed into extra time before a cross was knocked in from close-range in the 101st minute. It was the first time that a Big Sky school played its first round opponent in a one-goal decision since Idaho State fell 3-2 in overtime to Utah.


11/11 - Santa Clara 2-1 California [19]  
The Broncos knocked off the ranked Golden Bears to move onto the second half with another big goal from Kelsey Turnbow (Spokane, WA) and a bit of early fortune. Turnbow scored the decisive goal in the 65th for Santa Clara to break the 1-1 stalemate. They got on the board initially three minutes in off a free kick foul that also saw a Cal defender sent off. The short-handed Bears, though, pulled even in the 27th. They now face Vanderbilt, who upset four-seed Ohio State 2-1.

11/11 - Utah Valley 1-9 (1) Stanford [1] 
Averie Collins (Bozeman, MT) saw some action off the bench for the Cardinal as they rolled to the opening round win and a second round match against Auburn.

11/11 - Texas Christian 1-2 Arizona [RV]
Back-up keeper Jackie Bollinger (Wenatchee, WA) watched her Wildcats rally with two goals in the final 16 minutes to reach a second round game against four-seed Florida State.

11/10 - Alabama [RV] 1-2 Clemson [RV] 

DIVISION II WOMEN   

11/10 - Concordia 3-0 Chico State
Sydney Van Steenberge scored two minutes in for the Cavaliers and Kasey Ames (Spokane, WA) set her up for the second 20 minutes later. With less than two minutes left Michaela Prothe (Spokane, WA) found Brenda Uribe to cap the match. McKenna Stocker (Spokane, WA) and Katie Greene (Spokane, WA) started in defense for the Cavs.

11/11 - Sonoma State 0-2 Western Washington
The defending champions took care of business in the opening round, getting a goal in the first half and a tally in the second set up by Darby Doyle (Spokane, WA) that put them onto the next round, where they will face a UC San Diego side that just knocked out fellow GNAC side Concordia (see below).

11/12 - Concordia 1-2 UC San Diego
The Cavaliers were locked in a stalemate with the number three team in the nation until back-to-back strikes in the 54th and 55th put them down two. They got one back in the 80th, but it was not enough.

DIVISION III WOMEN   

11/11 - Pacific Lutheran 4-0 Whittier 
Brianna Hunting (Kennewick, WA) scored the final goal for the Lutes in the opening round win.

11/12 - Pacific Lutheran 1-1 (4-5 SO) Cal Lutheran 
In a dramatic affair the hosts broke the stalemate in the 76th, but the Lutes answered two minutes later. The Regals, though, advanced via the tiebreaker shootout.

DIVISION III MEN   

11/11 - Willamette 0-1 Mary Hardin-Baylor

NAIA 

Conference Tourney Notes:  Riley Martinson (Spokane, WA) helped lead unbeaten top seed Embry-Riddle AU to a 4-0 semifinal win in the Cal-Pac Conference tournament Thursday and then scored the game-winner in the 33rd minute in a 1-0 decision on Saturday against host UC-Merced, who had knocked out the league runners-up in the semifinals... Midfielder Kylie Stephens (Boise, ID) and defender Sarah Toney (Meridian, ID) started for second-place Hastings in both games as they defeated one-loss third-place finisher Midland, ranked 24, and unbeaten regular season Great Plains Athletic Conference champion Concordia, ranked 21, via penalties after a pair of scoreless draws to win the title.

Women's National Tournament Games of Note

Saturday, November 18 

Northwest University @ (5) Vanguard
Science & Arts @ (15) Embry-Riddle
Eastern Oregon @ (7) Westmont
Hastings @ (14) Ottawa

Men's National Tournament Games of Note 

Saturday, November 18

Southern Oregon @ (8) Georgia Gwinnett
Corban @ (15) Hastings

NWAC FINAL FOUR 

Women's Semifinals - Friday, November 10

Tacoma 0-4 Peninsula 
The Pirates led by one at the break and pulled away for the win in the second half.

Highline 2-2 (4-3 SO) Clark 
Jenna Jensen (Spokane, WA) was one of the penalty takers to convert for Highline to reach the Final.

Women's Championship - Sunday, November 12

Highline 1-0 OT Peninsula 
Jenna Jensen (Spokane, WA) helped lead Highline to the NWAC Championship.

Men's Semifinals - Friday, November 10

Spokane 1-2 Whatcom
The Bigfoot fell behind in the ninth minute, but pulled even on a goal from Chase Reidt (Spokane, WA) in the 34th minute. The contest remained even until Whatcom tallied in the 70th with what held as the winner.

Walla Walla 1-4 Highline 
Cristian Torres put the Warriors on the board first 22 minutes into the match on an assist from Alejandro Espana, but Highline rallied for the lead by the break with goals in the 33rd and 40th. Adama Kante, who tallied the second, would add two more in the second half to lock up the result.

Men's Championship - Sunday, November 12

Highline 1-0 Whatcom 
Alain Murhula (Boise, ID) would play over half the contest for Whatcom, but Highline claimed the title on a goal in the 59th minute.

DIVISION I MEN 

The field is set for the men's Division I tournament. Among the field featuring area players are Washington and Akron, both of which are in the same bracket. The Huskies, which feature Blake Bodily (Eagle, ID), Tyler Smith (Spokane, WA) and Noah Whitman (Spokane, WA) will face local foe Seattle University in the opening round. If Washington advances, they will face the five seed Akron, who features Tor Saunders (Spokane, WA) as the back-up keeper. Waiting in the second round as a nine seed is Stanford, which features Sam Werner (Bozeman, MT). They will host Pacific or CSU-Fullerton.

11/16 - Seattle U @ Washington - 6:00 PT
11/19 - Winner @ Akron - 10:00 PT
11/19 - TBD @ Stanford - 5:00 PT

Regular Season Men's Notes: After giving up three in the second half, Gonzaga got on the board via Isaiah Jackson in the 88th minute... Down two, Timmy Mueller (Post Falls, ID) set up the first of four consecutive Oregon State goals in a 4-3 win against Washington.


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